Former Olympia School District bus driver pleads guilty to child assault, avoiding second trial

Originally published January 3, 2019 at 12:12 pm
Updated January 4, 2019 at 9:37 am

Jimmy W. Wall, 52, went on trial in November 2017 on four counts of first-degree rape of a child and two counts of first-degree child molestation but the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision, according to Olympian archives.

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A former Olympia School District bus driver accused of sexually assaulting a student has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and will not serve any more time in jail.

Jimmy W. Wall, 52, was charged in 2016 with four counts of first-degree rape of a child and two counts of first-degree child molestation. He was accused of sexually assaulting a boy who attended Madison Elementary School, starting in the 2007-08 school year.

Wall went on trial in November 2017. That ended in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision, according to Olympian archives.

Wall was scheduled to go back on trial later this month. Instead, he pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree assault of a child on Friday and was sentenced to eight months in jail with credit for time served.

Wall also was ordered to have no contact with the victim in this case or children in general, except supervised contact with his grandchildren.

In court documents, Wall maintained that he was innocent of the original charges.

At trial, Wall’s attorney argued that the case was about “money and greed,” according to archives. The victim’s mother previously filed a $2.5 million claim on her son’s behalf against the Olympia School District that referenced sexual abuse by another former bus driver, Gary D. Shafer, according to archives.

Shafer, 40, who was Wall’s roommate at one time, was behind bars after pleading guilty to child-molestation and child-pornography charges in 2011. The school district faced multiple civil suits related to Shafer.

After the victim in Wall’s case accused Shafer of sexually assaulting him, Shafer was charged with first-degree rape of a child. In December 2017, he pleaded guilty to first-degree rendering criminal assistance and was sentenced to seven years on top of his previous sentence.